A.D. 1191. THE CHRISTIANS ARE FOREWARNED AT ACRE. 209 England pears, Damascene plums, and abundance of other fruits of his country, besides other little presents, that this way at least he might render them disposed to make peace with him. Eor he had often made them offers of peace and concord, both in consequence of his apprehensions of the sons of Noureddin, who had laid claim against him to the whole of the territories of their father which Saladin had seized and retained in his possession, and had, with the aid of the lord Musse, their uncle, lately entered the territory of Saladin, and taken possession of it as far as the great river Euphrates ; as also because he wished to rescue his people who were being besieged in the city. However, he would not entirely come to terms with the kings, for he wished to retain in his hands the city of Jerusalem and the Crag of Montreal, while the kings refused to make any agreement with him on those terms. In consequence of this, the stone engines of the kings and of the other chieftains, never ceased hurling stones against the walls of the city and its fortifications, and the miners of the kings did not cease day or night undermining the city walls. In the month of June, on the Lord's Day, being the vigil of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, and the twentyseventh day of the moon, at the ninth hour of the day, there wasanecBpse of the sun, which lasted three hours; so much so, that the sun was obscured, and darkness came over the earth, and the stars appeared in the heavens ; when the ecBpse had passed, the sun was restored to its former brightness. In the city of Acre there was a man, a worshipper of God, though in secret from fear of the pagans, who frequently sent letters to the armies of the Christians, written in Hebrew, , Greek, and Latin, and by them signified to the Christians all the circumstances and intentions of the pagans ; hi consequence of which, the Christians, being often forewarned, avoided the stratagems of the pagans. However, it was a cause of great vexation to the Christians that they did not know this man, nor yet his name, though in aB the letters that he sent he declared that he was a Christian, and in his writings he always commenced with, " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." However, it is a thing greatly to be wondered at, that, neither before the taking of the city nor yet after it was taken, he thought fit to discover himself to the Christians. VOL. n.